If the Massachusetts hockey team is going to make a run in the second half of the season it has to start now. The Minutemen will not have to play a game outside of Western Mass until February 13th against Northeastern. Friday’s game against 4th ranked Boston College kicks off a five game homestand, followed by a game against AIC at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, and then capped off with a return to the Mullins Center to face Northeastern. We heard a lot earlier on in the season that the team was in need of a good homestretch to reverse their fortunes. That hasn’t really happened as the team is just 2-5-1 at the Mullins Center. But considering that the team plays three of its final four regular season games on the road, they desperately need to do well now if they’re to stay out of the bottom portion of the league standings.

Hockey East continues to show it’s the best conference in college hockey, boasting three of the top four teams in the country. The latest USCHO polls has Providence continuing its reign as the #1 team in the country with Boston College just behind them at #2. Lowell moved up to #4 after taking three points from Notre Dame. Staying at #3 is UMass’ next opponent, 11-0-2 Quinnpiac.

These blowouts were supposed to be a thing of the past. Over the summer Massachusetts hockey coach John Micheletto re-tooled his defense, bringing in four players who are either already drafted, attended an NHL prospect camp this summer, or are projected to be drafted next June. Or some combination of all three. In net, Micheletto finally landed the high profile goaltender he’s been coveting, with the top Junior A player in all of Canada landing in Amherst during the offseason. Yet, here we are a month into the season and UMass finds itself 56th in the country in goals against after giving up 23 goals in the last 4 games. They are also 56th in penalty kill with opponents scoring a third of the time on the power play. Players leave. New players come in. But the program continues to be dogged by major defensive deficiencies.

The Massachusetts hockey team is looking to get back on track after picking up their first loss of the season to #13 Yale over the weekend at the Capital City Classic. But the specific challenges they faced against the Bulldogs could prove to be even tougher against the #3 Boston College Eagles on Tuesday. Yale came into their game with UMass carrying over a strong defensive team from last season, but playing in their first game of the year. BC through six games this season has already proven that they’re just as good defensively as Yale and maybe even better.

For his role in helping the Massachusetts hockey program gain an opening weekend sweep in Colorado Springs Minuteman freshman Austin Plevy was named Hockey East Co-Rookie of the Week today. He shares the honor with UConn’s Max Letunov who, like Plevy, also had a hat trick in his collegiate debut. In addition to the 3 goals and one assist in Friday night’s 6-3 win Plevy also scored the game-winner on Saturday. Plevy and Mercyhurt’s Taylor Best, who has played one more game than Plevy, are tied for the national lead in goals. Shane Walsh (3G, 2A) and Nic Renyard (45 saves) were named Top Performers by the league this week for their efforts this weekend.

Time for the first Weekend Wrap-around of the season taking a look at what’s going on around the rest of Hockey East and in college hockey in general, as well as catch up on any other UMass news coming out of the weekend.

The Massachusetts hockey team got much of what it wanted from its warm-up to the 2015-16 season with a 4-0 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers from the CIS. The shutout was a combined effort as each of the team’s goaltenders turned away all the Tigers shots while playing a period each. The team’s freshman class made solid contributions in net, on defense, and in the game’s scoring.

Search Fear The Triangle Archives

Contact Fear The Triangle

Suggestions? Questions? Care to share which Hockey East ref you hate to see take the ice? Have any beer suggestions? Feel free to email me.

If you want to add your two cents about a specific topic discussed don't hesitate to use the comment function.

Support FTT

Fear The Triangle will always be free. But there is some investment associated with providing first-hand coverage of UMass hockey. Specifically, domain hosting, travel, game streams, and ticket costs all add up. Not to mention the hours spent every day reading and writing about UMass hockey. I'll continue to do this for the foreseeable future even if it runs me into financial ruin (it won't, I think) and my wife divorces me (hopefully just as unlikely). But if you enjoy what you read here and want to show your support, here is a link to contribute to FTT via PayPal.

Legal Verbage.

Fear The Triangle is not affiliated with the University of Massachusetts, the UMass Hockey program or any other organizations having to do with UMass (or organizations having to do with triangles for that matter). What you read here is purely the opinion of the owner and frankly his mental state has always been suspect.